Baltimore 2017 Update

Baltimore Training Week 2017
The IODAI Baltimore training week took place during the mid-term week with 15 families from the NYC attending.
Out of over 133 sailors aged between 7 and 14 there were twenty five sailors from the NYC. The NYC group was the largest participating club with sailors in all fleets.
The sailors had 5 days of sailing with mixed conditions at times very windy with storm Doris lending her force on Wednesday evening and Thursday morning. International and Irish coaches provided a full range of training, from first time Regatta fleet level through to Transition and to Main Fleets both Junior and Senior with a Regatta on the last day.
We had great results in the Senior Main Fleet Hugh Turvey came 3rd Place and Conor Gorman came 6th.In Junior Main Fleet Luke Turvey came 1st Place and Sam Le Doux came 5th .In Regatta Fleet Lauren O’Callaghan came 2nd Place and Cathal O’Regan won a prize for best improved sailor in his group.
Baltimore is an all hands on deck “ week ,with parents encouraged to lend a hand with the work that goes into making it such a special event. Helping out with making sailors lunches, doing slip duty, rescue on the water or safety checking of boats and organizing the social activities meant that parents had an opportunity to get to know each other just as well as the sailors did.
A special thankyou to David and Helen Turner for bringing down the NYC Rib and providing on the water support for the week.
Also thanks to Phil and Charlotte Trickett for bringing down the NYC rib for our instructor Claudine Murphy. A special thanks to Linda and Jim Byrne for also providing on the water support for the week.
The social activity kicked off for the NYC with a dinner in Caseys on the Sunday night which comprised of 28 Parents and 32 children both Sailors and non-sailors and a very little non-sailor in a rock a tot and a big thank you to Caseys for accommodating us.
There was a Movie night and Disco night for the sailors not to be left out on the Disco night the NYC parents had another dinner.
There was a Ladies lunch for Mums in the Glebe restaurant and the NYC Ladies made up nearly half of the lunch with 11 Ladies attending.
There was Schull and Fitbones for the non-sailors which included a trip to Sherkin Island and a hike in Lough Hyne.
There was the IODAI Forum in Bushes where Ross Killian gave a talk on the ISA Pathway followed by lengthy debrief which continued in Bushes.
Thanks to the initiative of Pat and Deirdre Horgan and with Fergal Fahey liasing up in Dublin there was training for Topper sailors whose siblings were part of the IODAI Optimist week from Sunday to Wednesday in Baltimore this was a great success and many thanks to the Horgans for all the organising.
14 Topper sailors were in the group with three from the NYC Deirdre Turner Caoimhe Byrne and Jack Hall.
Thanks to all the parents and supporters who made Baltimore 2017 such a success.
Rebecca Hall